Reko Diq, The Valley of Minerals and Marginalized Balochistan

Balochistan is endowed with natural resources and covers a large part of the territory about 45% of Pakistan with an estimated population of 19,255,648 as mentioned in the 2023 consensus is heretofore the least developed or exploited territory.

In addition, in Balochi, Reko-Diq means the mounds of gold and sand or the sandy peak which is a remote town in the district of Chagai in Balochistan. As shown in the report, a geological survey team tracked down the small town and so do the hoards of gold and copper in 1978. Another report demonstrates, being one of the 5th largest gold reservoirs in the world, asunder from other minerals, Reko-Diq can produce up to 200,0000 tons of copper, 600,000 tons of concrete, and 250000 tons of gold annually. The recent report of CEIC and data display, the reserves of gold of Reko-Diq reached an all-time high level of 4.115 USD bn in March 2023 from the previous number of 3.793 USD bn in Feb 2023.

However, Barrick Gold, a Canadian firm inked an out-of-court agreement with the federal government of Pakistan, the provincial government of Balochistan in March 2022 which aftermath proclaimed by the supreme court of Pakistan as licit.

Pretentiously, albeit authorities claim such projects are considered the fate changer of Balochistan, heretofore these have only brought up anguish and are responsible for the impairments of the socio-economic condition of Baloch. For instance, the SUI gas field is located in Balochistan’s district of Dera Bugti which produces 50% of the gas in Pakistan and the consumption of gas in Balochistan is only 2 percent; Punjab consumes the rest. The same is true with the China-Pakistan Economic Project (CPEC) where huge ship mafias harvest fish with gigantic quagmires while the local fishermen in Gwadar are not permitted to fish or even assaulted by mafias.

Moreover, as mentioned in the 2023 economic survey of Pakistan, the government expenditure on education was 19 billion for the building of human capital is equivalent to a negligible allocation in comparison to other provinces. In Balochistan, the literacy rate is 53% lower than in other areas because the majority of people either cannot afford to avail the benefits of education or are unable to get an education due to the unavailability of educational institutions.

This unevenness of allocation of resources and ill-treatment have compelled Baloch to question everything and revolt to arm struggle; if such projects had changed the fate of Balochistan, the SUI, CPEC, and Saindak could have altered the fate or benefited Baloch___not only the stakeholders and corrupt politicians.

Despite the availability of an enormous amount of gold, copper, concrete, and other precious minerals, excavated by foreign firms, why are Baloch, the owner of the land, degenerating with such fate-changer projects and going a thousandfold backward while shareholders, and beneficiaries, and the moneybags are taking the yield of all godsends?

The previous projects fall flat to mitigate the deprivation of Balochistan and fail to put an end to an unjust system so do Barrick’s assurances seem to be nothing more than a hoodwink.

Balochistan’s Marginalization and Assertions of Barrick Gold

Balochistan is always kept deprived of its basic human needs, and human rights___overlooked the legitimate demands of its people by so-called politicians and the establishment. Whenever a project originates in Balochistan in the name of development, the only thing that the people of Balochistan acquire in return is anguish, operations, and corpses of their loved ones as well as an upsurge in enforced disappearances respectively.

Additionally, Robert T. Kiyosaki has explicitly articulated in his book, Whenever the military-industry complex presses for more money, they simply initiate another war. thus, it is clear that none of the wars is fought for the security, freedom, or welfare of poor people, the military fights war or conducts operations for money because war is the biggest business, and the only beneficiaries are the high-ups of the military.

Similarly, none of these developmental projects would benefit the ordinary people of Balochistan but the establishment and the abettors when in the state from politicians to institutions all___ are corrupt and nothing comes to pass without the consent of military high-ups.

Dualistic characteristic of Balochistan

Although some parts of Balochistan are selectively developed by the establishment where they have interests like Gwadar. ___but almost 50 to 60 percent of people who live below the line of poverty don’t even have access to drinkable water or eatable food. As mentioned in an article, the six villages people next to the Saindak project, which are 50m away from the Reko Diq project, live a miserable life. They don’t have the facility of healthcare nor have educational institutions where they can send children to acquire education.

Barrick’s Assertions

Barrick Gold firm owns 50% of the project while three federal state enterprises own a 25% stake. On the other hand, Balochistan holds 15 percent on a stake fully funded basis and 10 percent interest on a free carried basis in the scheme (Mining Technology.com). Also, the firm anticipates, the Reko-Diq to have a life at least of 40 years. President of Barrick, CEO, Mark Bristow predicts the project would instigate its first production in 2028 aftermath of the completion of feasibility expansion studies till 2024.

Indeed, the assertions of Barrick might not be authentic without any skeptics because if the ongoing projects fall flat to alter the fate of the people of Balochistan how come it will put an end to these widening distinctions; how come people would acknowledge the agreements inked with corrupt politicians and officialdom without their backing when the military is engaged in abduction of their loved ones and conducting operations by utilizing the acquired money. On the other hand, politicians are constantly making fake pledges to sort out these issues and deteriorating circumstances.

Conclusion

Balochistan’s people are always disregarded so do their legitimate demands regarding the right to freedom of speech, equal share in national wealth, equivalent allocation of resources, right to protest for their missing loved ones, and consent in any developmental project. Hence, No developmental project will be successful without the consent of the people of Balochistan when they constantly acquire the corpses of their loved ones and are incarcerated in return.

Thus, it is explicit that no developmental project will halt the grievances of Baloch unless the illicit practices of the establishment and immutable policy forestall.